The Canadian dollar has been a target of debate, and much angst, since it was last above parity with the U.S. currency 11 months ago. Ever since, the Bank of Canada has been under the gun to bring it even closer to Earth to help fire up the economy.

Canadians still looking to buy a vacation property in the United States have to look harder for deals today so saving money on exchange rates is more enticing than ever. Recovering prices and a weaker loonie have eaten into bargains south of the border.

“We’ve just had a rash of people calling,” says Mr. Curran. “It’s a lot of high net worth individuals saying ‘I have to do this, I have to do that’, buying up property being one of the things.”

The Canada dollar touched its lowest level in six years against the greenback Thursday, adding some new urgency to buying U.S. property while making the people who bought at the bottom of the market look mighty smart.

In the past year, the dollar has lost 12%, an easy 12% gain for Canadians who bought U.S. property.

With the perfect storm of strong currency, low prices and better access to credit, in part due to the still lofty value of our Canadian homes, we have gotten used to some pretty great deals south of the border.

The purchasing power of Canadians had made us the No. 1 foreign buyer of U.S. residential property for the 12 months ending, March 2013. Canadians accounted for 23% of the US$68.2-billion of of foreign purchases, according to the Washington-based National Association of Realtors.

The question now is whether the chance to buy cheap U.S. property has come and gone. New data released yesterday from the Washington-based national association Thursday shows the median price of existing homes was up 9.9% in December on year over year basis, up from the 9% year over year pace in November.

And inventory levels finally seem to be shrinking as the U.S. homes available for sale hit 1.86 million units in December, a 9.3% drop from a year ago and the lowest absolute inventory since January 2013.

There are a lot of people waiting because they think they missed the boat

Mr. Curran says he thinks the loonie could go lower by a cent or two but anybody hoping for a quick rebound may be out of luck. “Get in line and get a number and be sure they call you because there are a lot of people waiting because they think they missed the boat,” he said.

Toronto-Dominion Bank deputy chief economist Beata Caranci says the U.S. market still has a ways to go before it gets back to its heyday.

During the 2006 bubble peak, the U.S. national median price of an existing home reached $230,400. The median price was back up to $197,100 in 2013 but real estate is inherently local and the recovery has been greater in some markets than in others.

“Canadians like Florida, Arizona and to a degree California,” said Mr. Caranci, noting Florida is probably the top destination for Canadians and its price increases have not been as pronounced. “The fundamentals are still there in terms of attracting Canadians.”

While the dollar doesn’t look strong compared to where it was a few months ago, looking it at in historical context, it’s fall is not that dramatic.

At the peak of the U.S. housing bubble, the loonie traded even lower, costing almost $1.20 to buy one greenback. By comparison, as the U.S. housing market bottomed out, the loonie traded near par and Canadians were getting a premium on their currency.

“It’s still a good market in terms of affordability, it’s just eroding year by year and month by month,” said Ms. Caranci.

There’s no question buying a U.S. property has been top of mind to some of his clients, says David Kaufman, chief executive of Westcourt Capital Corp. which advises high net worth investors.

“It can be a good hedging strategy, and it’s a natural hedge. Many high net worth Canadians spend significant amounts of time in the U.S.,” says Mr. Kaufman. “If you’re going to spend 20% of your time and dollars in the U.S. every winter, you might as well.”

U.S. vacation homes are still mostly a luxury for many people. Unless you’re getting a lot of use out of the property, it’s likely cheaper to rent.

“One luxury of wealth is participating in activities that are not rational from an economic perspective. You do the math on an expensive golf membership and how much it cost you per round and maybe you don’t do that either,” said Mr. Kaufman.

It’s probably too early to say what type of impact a falling dollar could have on Canadian buyers, says Mandy Becker, broker/owner of Re/Max Southern Shores, based in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

“It’s not an issue for us here. Sometimes it’s difficult to see the impact of something like that immediately,” said Ms. Becker.